New screenshots reveal more on the Notification Center, actionable notifications and a Battery percentage option in Windows Phone 8.1

More information is coming forward regarding the forthcoming Windows Phone 8.1. This time, alleged screenshots from build 8.10.12166.0 were posted in the Windows Phone Central forums by user qXerro. Although we have not verified the screenshots (they can be easily faked), we can confirm that the information revealed by them is accurate for the upcoming Windows Phone overhaul due early next year. In fact, the grammar error suggests they are re-created.

In three screen captures, posted below, we can see more detail about the Notification center and sortable items in the App list in addition to a new battery display option.

The Facebook notifications have not be verified, but app list sorting is accurate

In Windows 8.1, currently in preview edition, users should be familiar with the sorting option in the App list. Users can organize the list by name, frequency of use, category or date installed. Windows Phone Central has learned some time ago that this feature will also be present in Windows Phone 8.1, finally offering end users the ability to better control menu organization. (We should also caution that we heard there were problems with it, so it may not make it to the final build.) By tapping the double-arrow in the upper right hand corner, users can select from those options listed above and this is reflected in these leaked screenshots.

The other new feature is actionable notifications. This will be a new enhancement to the current Toast notifications (i.e. pop up) that users are familiar with and it will be open to developers with the new 8.1 SDK. Once again, it will mirror Windows 8.1 and the Skype example, where users can answer the call with or without video or ignore, all from the Toast notification. The same will be in Windows Phone 8.1 where you can for example directly respond to a text message without having to launch the app. This can be seen above with the Facebook message.

We can also reiterate the news about 'ghost notifications' for the Notification Center, which Windows Phone Centralfirst reported on a few days ago. These will not be Toast notifications but instead will go directly to the Notification Center so as to not constantly bother end-users. This option will be available to developers via the SDK and should give Windows Phone a superior notification system.

The third and final new tidbit reveals a “Show Battery percentage” option under the Battery settings. This will allow users to see the exact percentage of battery in the Task bar next to the battery icon.

Other information revealed but not verified is that the OS will be announced in January with the SDK due in February, most likely at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The poster of the screenshots, qXerro, has noted that this current build has poor Wi-Fi and that the settings app crashes randomly, reminding us that Microsoft still has some work to do.

Windows Phone Central cannot maintain if the actual screenshots are real though (they could be re-creations) but we stand by the information revealed here. Of course, features can be added and removed during the process so more changes may be forthcoming.

Update 11:45 AM:We should also clarify that many of these leaked screenshots (or clever PhotosShops) are in fact based on older OS iterations. That means not too much should be placed on final UI layouts or functionality.

When you think about it, you don't really need a pull down notifcation list.
If you're in an app and see a toast notification, you either click on it or carry on doing what you were doing.
If you're on the start screen anyway, you can check immediately on your notification tile for notifications.
The pull down method doesn't really fit in with the windows phone design which focuses on the start screen.

Well, various people have clamored for various features on this forum, but the single most wanted feature for me is the 'Show battery percentage'. Heaven only knows how much distress i go through to keep abreast of the battery charge, what with having to go into 'settings' and scrolling down. To make matters worse, the Battery apps can only update the battery percentage info once in half an hour. So, I am quite glad for this new feature.

Now this is not just a Notification Center, this is some innovating stuff! I can´t believe the creativity and innovation Microsoft is showing us with Windows Phone. Where Apple basicly changes his icons and Google is doing nothing really, Microsoft is heavily developing this OS to become the most superiour mobile operating systems of all platforms. In a user experience sense, they already have, but adding things like this it becomes even better! I hope they will implement this Notification Center in Windows 8.2 as well, that would be awesome

No doubt "codesmith" from Liquid Daffodil will be along in a minute to assure us that there will be no notification centre in 8.1, and that we should all have used their notification centre, but too late since we were all so nasty and hostile towards their terrible implementation.

Tiles can be instant if updated server side via push notification. Background tasks are updated at a minimum every 30 mins. If every app tries to update every minute, then your phone battery won't last very long.

Looks pretty nice, especially this quick reply-thing. After I've seen that on my friend's android, I got a little jeallous^^
BUT: Why is there so much padding at the border of tiles? IMHO this is waste of space and doesn't really look that great.

Seems promising. I do hope that in addition to a "notifications hub" (which the screnshots, if real, seem to imply is the approach Microsoft's taking?), there will be a "drawer" akin to Android and iOS (yes, I like that Windows Phone is different than its rivals, but the available-from-anywhere drawer is a smart element, might as well use. The "swipe down" mechanic is already reserved to show more of the status indicators, so making it show notifications would make sense). Likewise for toggles (WiFi, Orientation Lock, etc.).
I'd also be really happy if they'd deign to add the ellipsis character to the keyboard (ie. long-press on the full-stop)… 8)

I should temper my comment a bit - you're right, I like that Windows Phone is distinct from Android and iOS in its UI. It's the main reason I switched. And I'd be happy with another solution that makes viewing of Notifications and setting of Toggles (WiFi/Airline/BlueTooth/Orientation/etc.) easy to access.
My point was that the "drawer" paradigm does fit that "easy to access" requirement. Without having to drop out of an app and go to the Start screen, one could view things easily. If Microsoft can do something like that - whether it's a "drawer" from the top, or some other gesture (from the side, or bottom, or maybe something like a concept video I saw, where someone "swiped up" over the Start button and onto the screen (or Back, or Search - could do different things?))... it'd be an efficient way to get to them.
(besides, Android and iOS are stealing design cues from Windows Phone; taking one of their good ideas into our OS of choice isn't a bad thing on it's own, particularly if Microsoft can improve on it).

Excited for Q1 2014. But i hope this is accompanied with a lot more APIs to developers, or at least 'AAA' developers (in my book) such as the makers behind 6tag, myTube, MetroTube, WPCentral, Weaze, wpTorrent, etc. Just saying, these people deserve to be able to give what WP users want.

Daniel... have you seen this WP concept video? I think this is how most of us would like to see the notifications center be implemented... There are a bunch of other great ideas here too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRVC4BKWaP8

Wow, really awesome concept video... I don't like everything but most ideas are just awesome... I hope the notification center looks/works like this... - only problem would be that it may interfere with pivot controls, etc...

yes because now that Apple has "invented" the 64bit architecture, it will become the next barometer by which OSes will be judged.... A few years ago it was dual core, then quad core, and 1080p screens, now it will be 64bit smh

On a mobile device with less than 4GB RAM, not much. WP will gain x64 compatibility in a couple years or less anyway as they merge the kernel with WinRT (Maybe Win/WP9) which is long before it would become useful on a mobile device IMO.

So, what good is that gonna do an a phone. Honestly this is gonna be ridiculous is everyone starts saying that WP sucks cuz its not 64 bit. Shit I barely upgraded my desktop a year ago just for the ram, other than that, there really is no differenc

True, but if the coder is just trying to start with a proof of concept they probably aren't taking the time to look up the correct localization strings. I know I would go back at the end and do that kind of stuff, along with proof reading all of the text strings, comments, etc. To begin with I often type in messages that are completely inappropriate for a final product...like "uh oh errorz" in an incomplete exception handler.

Yeah, I noted this below. I think it's not the real Facebook app but just a fake app that looks like it is giving Facebook notifications. If it was the real Facebook app, they'd probably base it on the existing source code (the app sends the toasts, not the OS).

Actually, thinking about it technically, this screenshot could be real. It is likely that it is not a real Facebook app that is being used but a service mocking the Facebook app to develop/test the toast interaction feature. That mock could just be putting a toast up with no real data and hence is probably not localized at all.
However, that would imply that the user creating the screenshots is working on the feature.
Not sure which one I'd rather believe.

Is that a Facebook message as in a private message/direct message or a Facebook chat message? It would be great if Facebook private messaging was integrated into the OS like this (so that it would actually work.)

I really hope so because right now, the facebook messaging experience is the worst there is. It even was better on WP7 when the facebook chat integretion was somehow reliable. But now, Facebook app's notification are completely random, and the native facebook chat is broken.

A flawless facebook messaging integration is necessary for WP to continue growing up, I know some people that are ready to ditch the OS because of that (some people use FB private messages all the time).

As of recently, I have been getting all my messages from facebook on the people hub. I know joe said they were working on it so probably some tweeks in the background.

The only thing is the double notifications. Example, When I'm at work, i'm logged into my browser and my phone is next to me.. and the messages come in on both ends.. pretty annoying but alot better than it was before.

Still doesn't sync the messages you sent via your computer to the phone though but that's ok.

I do have the facebook beta app installed and I HAVE gotten notifications for messages. example "Tom sent you a message"

It's not consistent and far from reliable, but it goes to show that microsoft is working on things on their backend :)

Messasges sent from outlook/skydrive.com ect.. will get synced to the phone. Ones from facebook itself will not. I'd imagine this might not change as MS doesn't know about ones not originated in their applications. Doubful FB would feed them the messages as it's redundant, but who knows.

Both, I tried it out with both apps, and honestly, none give proper messaging notifications. You get them like 5 minutes after you actually receive the message, or you don't get the notification at all. I don't personnaly use facebook messaging that much, but I know friends who does and this is a clear downgrade when they're coming from Android or iOs.

You're right about comparisons to iOS and Android. However our OS is much more consistent with regards to Facebook notifications in general. I've never once received a regular notification from my HTC One in the several months that I've had it. I just wish that Facebook messages would be more consistent when using the built in messaging app.

My God, I thought I was the only one with that problem. The native app sucks for me, too ever since I moved to WP8; it was, indeed, better on WP7.x. Why hasn't Microsoft done (or even tried to do) anything about it? That feature was really useful to me!

You see, "can't wait" is a phrase used to express one's extreme excitement about a particular event. It does not literally mean that they cannot wait. It's called hyperbole and is commonly used. You should become aware of it.

I actually liked a lot, making wp better than it already is, glad to see Microsoft working on it, hopefully, great times are coming now that Microsoft wants take part of smartphones segment and bought Nokia